Far from the evergreen of old Assam
Far from the rainfall on the trails of old Saigon
Straight from the poster town of scorn and Ritz
To bring you the wilder side of gold and glitz…
And so begins my music-induced daydreaming. For some inexplicable reason, listening to The Killers’ new album “Day and Age” makes me want to go to the desert, specifically to the Southwest states like Arizona and New Mexico. I imagine myself driving down an old deserted highway with my gold-rimmed Ray Ban aviators, finishing up a stop at the Four Corners (after taking some cleverly-posed pictures, taking full advantage of the fact that I can stand in four states at the same time!) and on my way to Flagstaff, AZ to restbefore heading north to see the Grand Canyon. The song continues on…Run, neon tiger, there’s a lot on your mind, they strategize and name you, BUT DON’T YOU LET ‘EM TAME YOU. If I were I driving my car home from work instead of sitting in my dorm room, I would be more likely to sing my heart out. My roommates are home, though, and I think they might appreciate being able to study without my attempts at singing rock ballads.
The song ends, as does my desert adventure, and the next song in the queue “Romeo and Juliet” begins to play. Not one of my favorites, but I let it play anyways. A quick glance to my left again reminds me of my daydream. My Planet Earth calendar has some amazing pictures from all around the globe, a good $5 investment for the empty wall space by my computer. The month of April just happens to feature deserts. The pristine pictures of Namibian sand dunes and a caravan of camels reminds me of where I’d much rather be at this moment in time.
The calendar then brings me back to reality by reminding me that there are still 30 days until graduation. A whole month? It seemed like February and March just flew by…grad school visits, thesis research and general insanity associated with my final project…so why is April moving SO SLOWLY? Say what you will about being incessantly busy-and after nearly pulling out all of my hair during the past two months, I had some experience with that-but at least when you’re busy you’re never bored. You don’t have to scavenge your schedule for events to look forward to or assignments to get a head start on.
But the worst part of the next month ahead is that all I can do is sit and wait. Wait for after graduation day to begin my summer-long session of travels, laziness, and sun bathing. Wait for NSF to tell me if they want to give me a $120,000 fellowship, a glorified high-five, or nothing. Wait to make a grad school decision until NSF tells me what, if anything, I’ll receive. Wait for the weather to be nice so I can start riding my bike again. Wait until Ashley Lynn’s has a new sign-up special so I can get free tanning until May. Wait for Austin to get back from yoga so we can eat dinner (Wednesday is soup night at the dorm cafeteria, awesome!).
The Killers playlist continues on, and Sam’s Town gets me motivated to get back to work…I’ve got this energy beneath my feet, like something underground’s gonna come up and carry me. Very well put, Brandon Flowers. I need to get over this helpless feeling and make sure to finish off my last 30 days of college off right. So back to the task at hand, T minus two days until my next animal phys exam. It’s harder to daydream when you’re studying capillary function and the ideal gas law, right?
If that doesn’t work, I’ll try to get my mind off of all this waiting by shopping for some new aviators. Better get a neck strap for them, too. Don’t want to drop them when I’m hanging off a guardrail taking pictures of the Grand Canyon.
Sigh...wish I were here. Only 29 days to go now.
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